Ice cold in Christchurch

Christchurch

Day 3 in Singapore was another scorcher and also plagued with Jetlag. After a 'Lost in Translation' evening with Ryan where we wandered around Singapore until 1am I managed a whole 3 hours sleep before heading back off into the sprawling metropolis. The first stop was the Gleneagles Hospital for another pilgrimage to see where Neil was born. Fortunately the person I asked for directions from at the metro station was a nurse who worked there, so finding it was a lot less difficult than finding the house. Convieniently enough the hospital was also next to the Singapore Botanical Garden, another tourist spot on my agenda. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours wandering around the beautiful sprawling gardens, including the Orchid garden, Ginger garden and Swan Lake, before the heat and lack of sleep got to me and I had to head back to the sactuary of the air-conditioned hotel for a nap. Unfortunately it wasn't butterfly season, but I got some lovely pictures of orchids (to be published soon).

That evening I was kindly invited for dinner at the home of Louise Pye, the ex-pat daughter of friends of my mum and dad. I was treated to some top-notch hospitality and a gorgeous traditional meal cooked by their Philappino housekeeper Josie. Louise and her husband have a beautiful home that used to be a military house and a much enjoyable evening was had, especially the ride home in an open-top Porche... backpacking, it's all about roughing it!

I couldn't leave Singapore without the obligatory Singapore Sling at Raffles, so Ryan and I headed down there before I headed to the airport. Although it was expensive (especially as we had a couple), I can at least say I've been, and we did have the advantage of being able to listen to the practice laps of the Grand Prix nearby.


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So on Saturday I arrived in Christchurch, where I was met by my hosts, the lovely Caroline and Eric, who have been looking after me very well ever since. It is, however, FREEZING here and my lack of winter clothes is apparent, especially after the heat Ive been enjoying in S'pore.

On Saturday night we went to the opening of the Methven Spring Festival, which featured dirt bike and snowboarding jumps, very entertaining except the bloke who faceplanted the dirt from about 40ft up, the crowd went wild... these Kewis are more bloodthirsty than the Romans.

After finally catching up on some much needed kip spent a chilled Sunday wandering around Christchurch for a bit before heading back out of the cold. Was very excited to find the Soul Motive 4th release (Jah No Dead/Son di Cali) in a record shop, big in the Southern Hemisphere!